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Marie Ledebur-Wicheln

1920–1984

Born
5 Nov 1920, Křemýž
Country of birth
Czechia
Died
14 Jun 1984, Heidelberg
facts
5
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth5 Nov 1920, KřemýžProbable1 source
  • Death14 Jun 1984, HeidelbergProbable1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Křemýž

    Birth, Křemýž

  2. Child born: Count Karl Eugen, 10th Count of Neipperg

    Birth

  3. Died · Heidelberg

    Death, Heidelberg

What was it like?

The world around Křemýž, 1920: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Marie was born the same year as Vilém Flusser, Federico Fellini, and Toshirō Mifune.

Born the same year

  • Vilém Flusser

    Czech philosopher and photographer

  • Federico Fellini

    Italian filmmaker (1920–1993)

  • Toshirō Mifune

    Japanese actor (1920–1997)

  • Charles Bukowski

    German-American writer (1920–1994)

  • Danilo Alvim

    Brazilian footballer and manager (1920-1996)

  • John Paul II

    pope, cardinal, bishop, priest, author

Fashion

Black embroidery for mourning heroes

In the Domažlice region, women wore collars embroidered in black to mourn a popular hero, Kozina, who was executed there.

Expensive and wide festive skirts

Women's festive skirts were exceptionally wide, using 10 to 12 ells of fabric, and could cost between 10 and 15 silver florins.

Music

Brass Bands and Enthusiastic Prague Audiences

Brass bands were central to Prague's cultural life, with military and civilian ensembles performing dozens of times each week in summer at parks and garden pubs. These performances were so popular that audiences often demanded encores, such as the march Hey, Gretel, which was once repeated three times due to overwhelming applause.

Popular Bagpipe and Violin Duos

In the Chodsko region, small musical duos of bagpipe and violin were highly popular for weddings and local festivals because they were inexpensive and portable. Musicians in these groups played by memory, often improvising melodies and rhythmic variations during the music.

Getting around

Faster Journeys by Rail

Railway network improvements significantly reduced travel times, with a journey from Czech lands to the Adriatic Sea taking only 15 hours by the first decade of the 20th century. By 1918, it took approximately 8 hours to travel by train from Prague to the eastern city of Ostrava.

Shift from Carriages to Trains

Traveling by carriage was expensive, slow, and uncomfortable compared to the railway, which became the preferred method for mass transport and leisure trips starting in the mid-19th century. Railway companies even organized special theater trains to bring thousands of spectators to the National Theatre in Prague during the 1880s.

Daily life

Bathing rituals in the household

Families used a single tin bathtub brought into the kitchen, which was filled with water heated on a stove. To conserve resources, the entire family bathed in the same water, typically with children going first, followed by the wife, and finally the husband.

Children's work and education

Children in families engaged in domestic production were often required to work from a very young age, which frequently resulted in the neglect of their school attendance. In the Czech districts, compulsory education lasted for eight years, starting at age six.

Food

Sweet main courses and Sunday meat

Sweet dishes like dumplings filled with plum jam, poppy seed noodles, or pancakes were frequently served as a main course, especially on Fridays or traditional fast days. In contrast, meat dishes were saved for Sunday dinners or special family occasions like weddings and funerals.

Working-class diets relied on meatless staples

Ordinary working-class families often survived on a daily diet of coffee substitute made from chicory or grain, eaten with bread, and thick meatless soups. Meat was a rarity, typically reserved for Sundays, while vegetables like potatoes, legumes, and cabbage formed the daily base.

Prices and wages

Low agricultural wages for families

Some women working in agriculture earned only 24 kreutzers per day for labor lasting from sunrise to sunset, while young boys received 12 kreutzers.

Work

Long factory shifts and exhausting commutes

Factory workers in the early 20th century often worked shifts of 10 to 12 hours, with the rhythm of daily life dictated by the factory siren rather than the seasons. Miners, who often walked up to two hours to reach the pit, were sometimes so exhausted that they barely had time to sleep before their next shift.

Struggling domestic weavers and factory diets

Domestic weavers extended their working hours to 12 or 16 hours a day to survive, while their families subsisted on a diet mainly of potatoes, thin soups, sauerkraut, mash, and bread. In contrast, factory workers could occasionally afford better food like meat, milk, and vegetables with their higher wages.

News and letters

Evolution of message speed

Communication technology evolved rapidly, moving from hand-delivered paper letters to telegraphs that sent electrical signals and telephones that transmitted voices. These advancements allowed people to shorten the physical distance between them by sending messages faster rather than moving closer together.

Rural mail schedules in 1912

In 1912, a rural mail service between Kostelec nad Vltavou and Milevsko used a carriage departing at 7 a.m. to arrive by 9 a.m., with a return trip departing at noon to arrive by 2 p.m. Foot messengers also delivered local mail, ensuring letters were dispatched the same day.

During their lifetime

  1. 1923

    Currency restabilization fueled economic recovery by 1927

    Following the restabilization of the currency in late 1923, Germany secured 800 million gold marks in foreign loans by 1927, which helped industrial production return to 1913 levels.

  2. 1933

    Car ownership grew slowly between 1933 and 1938

    Motorization remained limited in the 1930s, as the number of cars grew from 0.5 million in 1933 to 1.3 million in 1938, yet there were still only 19 cars for every 1,000 inhabitants.

  3. 1939

    Czech universities closed (1939)

    Following student protests and the funeral of Jan Opletal, the Nazis closed all Czech universities.

  4. 1939

    Occupation of Czech lands begins (1939)

    Nazi Germany invaded and occupied the remaining Czech lands, establishing the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

  5. 1941

    Theresienstadt ghetto created (1941)

    The Nazi regime established the Theresienstadt ghetto, which became a transit site for deportations to extermination camps.

  6. 1942

    Heydrich assassinated (1942)

    Czechoslovak parachutists assassinated Reinhard Heydrich, leading to brutal reprisals including the destruction of Lidice and Ležáky.

Family

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.